1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to food processing and, more particularly, to an apparatus for treating fruit with a caustic solution to facilitate separation of peel from the fruit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Utilization of fruit for certain purposes requires that the peel be separated from the fruit as a part of the processing operation. This operation has been somewhat difficult to mechanize, yet the cost of manually removing the peel would make the cost of peeled fruit prohibitive. Consequently there is a need for an apparatus which is capable of automatically removing peel at a high rate of speed. Although attempts have been made in the past to utilize a caustic treating solution to loosen the peel from the fruit, such techniques have generally carried the fruit through the solution on an elongated conveyor which does not sufficiently agitate the fruit to rapidly loosen the peel. Furthermore, these conveyors do not carry a sufficient volume of fruit thereby limiting the capacity of this technique, and the conveyors generally require a great deal of maintenance and are difficult to clean.